Resident Evil 7 Lets Players Drive A Car

Capcom invites gaming journalists to go hands-on with Resident Evil 7 at a special event in Japan, revealing an early section of the game where players drive a car.

In the terrifying world of survival-horror that the Resident Evil games inhabit, players are rarely given the chance to control vehicles. Based on recent hands-on sessions that Capcom shared with journalists at a special event in Japan, Resident Evil VII will be one of the rare entries in the series that actually lets players control a vehicle. But instead of jeeps with mounted guns that players utilized in Resident Evil 5, they will instead be operating a normal, gun-less car.

Gaming journalists were given the opportunity to play the first four hours of Resident Evil VII, where they discovered at least one section of the game allows protagonist Ethan to get behind the wheel. This part of the game takes place in a garage where Ethan finds his car, which was presumably hidden there by members of the malicious Baker clan.

If Ethan is able to avoid the invincible Jack Baker long enough to get in his car, it can actually be used as a weapon. Players are able to push on the gas to smash Jack into the wall a few times, temporarily incapacitating the Baker family patriarch. Jack recovers quickly, rips the roof off Ethan’s car, and then grabs him by the throat. The car, in flames from Ethan ramming it into the wall so many times, then explodes, knocking Jack off-balance long enough for Ethan to get away. With his car destroyed, Ethan is stuck to fight for his life against the Bakers and other monstrosities, with limited ammo and only a few guns for protection.

Even though Ethan’s car is destroyed in an explosion, he may have access to other vehicles at different points in the game. It remains to be seen just how large the Baker family plantation is, and it’s possible that Ethan may use a vehicle to travel from one area to the next. That’s just speculation at this time, but it would be odd for Capcom to include only one driving section in the entire game.

Then again, limiting players to only one moment in a car may be Capcom’s strategy to induce even more fear in its audience. It could make them feel stranded and isolated, as Ethan’s car represents their only means of escape off the plantation.

Ethan may have other opportunities to operate vehicles later on in the game, but it’s also possible that this early moment will be his only chance. Perhaps the upcoming third demo for Resident Evil VII will offer some clarification, but if not, fans will have to wait for the full game’s launch in 2017 to learn just how important cars will be to the gameplay of Resident Evil VII.

Resident Evil VII will be available on January 24th, 2017 for PC, PS4, PlayStation VR, and Xbox One.